Tuesday, 8 June 2010

Saajan Ki Saheli (1981)

The last film in my Nutan birthday special is Saajan ki Saheli, too often when it comes to her work in the 80's, Karma (1986), Meri Jung (1985) & Naam (1986) are often cited as Nutan's best work, however i'd go for Saajan Ki Saheli as her best work from this decade, very soap opera-ish without doubt but it showed Nutan's versatility in delivereing the goods, whatever role she was required to play, plus I just loved the way she was styled in this, too often when one thinks of Nutan, draped white Sari's come to mind, here her character gets to wear glam outfits

The story starts on Munmun's (Rekha) graduation day where she accepts the top prize for Ancient History, her mother Chand (Chand Usmani) is shocked when she sees the man she's receiving the award from

She rushes home, shouting and looking furiously for a certain diary, when Munmun confronts her on her behaviour, she urges her not to read the diary and thus suffers a heart attack

A very distraught MunMun reads the diary (good for her) and finds out Chand isn't in fact her real mother, her real mother was kunti (Nutan) a young woman who had dreamt of marrying a wealthy millionaire, however she had been involved in a one night stand which a poet Anil (Anil Dhawan) which resulted in being pregnant with Mun Mun, she jilts Anil whose heartbreak then leads him to commit suicide

As a result of a marriage proposal from a wealthy Barrister Avinash kumar (Rajendra Kumar) she gives birth to the child in Chandanpur, after which she rejects it, calling it a 'Paap ki Aulad' (Child of sin). Chand decides to raise Munmun on her own and promises Kunti she would never reveal the secret to anyone

MunMun is gutted on how her birth mother had treated her, she moves away from Chandanpur to Srinagar to work as a tour guide, there she meets and falls in love with a popular singer Anand (Vinod Mehra) who wants her to be in his band, as a result she moves to Bombay where she perfoms in his musical troop

Avinash kumar (Rajendra Kumar) the same man who had married her mom Kunti and had awarded her a prize at college, is impressed by Munmun's talent and sets up a meeting with her

When he goes over to her place he comes across Kunti's picture & in his conversations with Munmun, he realises she's the child of his wife Kunti with whom he's been unable to have a child, he's diasppointed she hid her past from him and decides on tormenting her with jealousy

He tells her about a client on the search for a mother who had deserted her years ago, this gives her a guilty conscience, but Kunti none the less acts jugmentaly about the whole matter and even when prompted by Avinash who hopes she'll tell him the truth about her past, Kunti keeps schtum

When Munmun arrives at Avinash's house for the dinner he's invited her to, she realises his wife is none other than her mother, she's shocked but reveals nothing to her, when Kunti realises she's the girl Avinash is talking about, Kunti treats her like an outcast all without knowing Mumnum is in fact her daughter

Avinash on the other hand keeps bringing the subject of Munmun up much to Kunti's frustration, her anger escalates even more when an emotional adviser Suresh (Suresh Oberoi) brings up her past as well as telling Kumti about Avinash's affair with Kunti

Who is this Suresh, and how does he know so much about Kunti's past? Will she realise that the Paap ki Aulad is in fact her own child? Will she come clean about the past to her husband?

Overall as i've said at the beginning, this film is as soap opera-ish as it gets, it felt like i ws watching an episode of Dynasty and the glam stakes just like Dynasty were high, it was refreshing to see Nutan in Strapless Maxi dresses, made up to the nines with bright red lips, feather boas, assymetric dresses etc. I just loved her style in this

Also hilarious were the dialogues in this film, for some reason i never pictured Nutan as the kind of actress to say 'main tera khoon pi jaunga' (I will kill you) and she gets a lot of room to say such camp dialogues on here, i've included an example of her fierceness in Saajan ki Saheli in this camp scene below, where she slaps Rekha to the point of fainting

The rest of the cast give a decent perfornmance too,Rekha was just gorgeous in this movie, she looked divine and i just couldn't stop taking screencaps

Overall watch Saajan ki Saheli if you like your soap opera-ish type storylines and even more so if you're a fan of Nutan or Rekha, it doesn't drag on endlessly and it closes in at just over 2hrs 8mins

17 comments:

Thanks for the lovely! Nutan was one of my most favourite actresses. For some reasons I have missed seeing this movie, but wouldn't mind seeing the DVD at least.

Here you have an aging Nutan wearing all those dresses that she hardly wore in her youth, excepting DILLI KA THUG where dons a swim suit, revealing her shapely legs. That's understable. She still looks lovely. I just love her style, her looks, her dialogue deliveries in her film. Have you watched MAIN TULSI TERE ANGAN KI? This is one hell of the movies to watch out for all the Nutan's fans! Rajendra Kumar too was past his prime and has never risen up since his Aman days. I like Vinod Mehra too just for his appearance and looks. I love those songs of Rafi Sahaab especially since they come at the fag end of his life. Once again, thanks for the review.

I had nearly forgotten the movie. It was a big hit at that time. but somehow I never made it to the theatre to watch it, but its songs were often repeated on Chaaya Geet. The most played was the title song.Nutan does look fab here, doesn't she? Of course, she always looked great!Have put up the review of her Paying Guest up at my site.

Never got around to seeing this, though I remember it being shown on TV... the only thing I recall from it was the title song Kisi aur ke saajan ki saheli ho gayi - and being rather taken aback by a Nutan who looked so glamorous (I was a pre-teen back then, and the only Nutan films I'd seen were all those white sari-clad ones you mentioned!)

I have this dvd but havent got around to seeing it. Nutan does look glamorous here, wish she had more of such roles in her earlier days. I like the songs. They are often played on B4U Music even now. And as Harvey mention, on Vividh Bharati as well.

@ Nasir Thanks i had seen Main Tulsi Tere Angan ki a long time ago an found it quite boring, the only thing i remember clearly is the title song which was lovely. i'll have to check out Dilli ka thug, thansk for that recommendation

@ She does of course, paying guest is one i've heard so much about about and been meaning to watch

@ Veen thanks a lot, i'm off to see and subscribe to your blog

@ Dustedoff It was so refreshing to see her being glam, Meena Kuamri is another person well apart from pakeezah who rarely wore anything other than white saris

@ Sunehri its a good afternoon movie that's best watched perhaps on a sunday & Ahh the joys of B4U ialways watch it down here as well especially 'Aawaz de kahaan hai'

A sort of precursor to this film was Saajan bina Suhagan from the same director. It also starred Nutan, Rajendra Kumar and Vinod Mehra. It was very famous for its songs: Madhuban khushboo deta hai and jijaaji jijaaji!The story was completely different though.

@ bollywooddeewana : I too watch "Aawaz De Kahaan Hai" quite regularly.@ Harvey : I always get confused between these two movies. Though I havent seen both the movies yet, the title and starcast is quite similar. And everytime I hear Madhuban khushboo deta hai , I visualize Rajendra Kumar, and then think of Vinod Mehra and Nutan in the movie...n get confused as to whether it's from Saajan Bina Suhagan or from Saajan Ki Saheli

The first time I saw Jiske liye sabko chhoda, I was shocked to see Nutan wearing ummm... vamp couture - 'coz in Bollywood only vamps are allowed to dress sexy after marriage (as a kid I only thought that she was dressed "like a vamp")! ;-) It does not seem like my kind of film, but glam Nutan (she looks way better here than even in her heroine phase!) and Jiske liye sabko chhoda are temptations I would find very hard to resist if I ever bumped into the film.

i was surprised too, but she really pulled it off, i wonder how the director must have talked her into wearing the dress, not that they were scandalous or anything, but you know, her image was always that of teh traditional indian woman. Jiske liye is a fab song all the way even thoughSilly Eros for some reason failed to provide subtitles

I ordered this movie after seeing your post. Saw it last night. U r right the movie is worth watching for a glam nutan and in a diff role. She was indeed one of the very talented heroines in hindi movies. BTW, she did wear glam dresses in her old Raj Kapoor movie "Anari". Songs were good in this movie esp the Rafi ones.

@ Filmbuff Hello and glad my review prompted you to get this, indeed the songs, Rekha, Glam Nutan were just about the highlights of this film, i'll be sure to check out Anari, i love Raj kapoor and i've heard a few songs off it too but i keep deferring it from my rental company

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I'm an outgoing, fun and down to earth guy who is bollywood crazy, hence why this blog is called bollywood deewana(dee-vah-nah). Bollywood is like a hobby for me, i love reading about it, watching, researching etc. I started this blog out of inspiration by other bollywood blogs i read, plus i watch a good deal of movies, at least 2-3 in a week, hence i thought why not give my reviews and share my love of Indian Cinema.
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